It is a common culinary practice to press liquid from certain can contents, such as tuna or the like, by manually forcing one severed can lid into the can to squeeze the liquid out of the contents while holding the can over a sink or bowl. This can be a time consuming and messy procedure with liquid tending to squirt out unpredictably. It may also be injurious if care is not taken to guard against finger cuts on the sharp severed can end edges, essentially while removing the can end after pressing is completed.
Following the design of long-known masher utensils such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 207,974, various scissors-type can presses have been proposed. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,647 which has the disadvantage of a plunger stroke curving into the can, only partially offset by an angled plunger face, with the result that the plunger face is not forced straight into the can. Another scissor-type design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,574 which is merely a modified pair of kitchen tongs from which the can may slip accidentally during operation and which cannot assert very great squeezing forces without hurting the fingers of the operator.
Straight-stroke ram-type can presses have also been proposed. One overly simple form is the press of U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,544 which requires both hands to operate if it is to be held over a sink or bowl to receive the drained liquid. In other fields unrelated to can presses, ram-type presses are known in which platens slide along parallel standards during operation, but they are complicated devices involving hydraulic systems or complex gear trains. Those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,664,042 and 5,001,911 are examples.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple hand press for cans of tuna or the like which may be operated with one hand alone while the press and can are extended by that one hand over a sink or bowl and in which the severed can lid is forced straight into the can for squeezing the contents and forcing out the liquid.